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Could Kyle Rudolph break out under new Vikings OC Norv Turner?

Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph has spent a lot of time watching tape of Jordan Cameron's big 2013 season with the Cleveland Browns, but study of Norv Turner's past offenses has gone further back.

MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph has spent a lot of time watching tape of Jordan Cameron's big 2013 season with the Cleveland Browns, but his study of Norv Turner's past offenses has gone a lot further back than that. Turner has made sure of it.

The install tape Turner has shown players since taking over as the Vikings' offensive coordinator in January features cutups dating to his days with the Dallas Cowboys in the early 1990s, when Jay Novacek played the role assumed in more recent years by Vernon Davis, Antonio Gates and Cameron.

"It's definitely hard to pick up at first, because you've got the HD cutups that we have now and all of a sudden it goes back. It's a little blurry, but it's fun," Rudolph told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday after working out at Larry Fitzgerald's annual camp at the University of Minnesota.

"So much of it is the exact same thing (Turner)'s been running for 20 years. It's the same plays. It's funny when you throw that on there and you see Novacek running it, Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman. Those are all guys that I grew up watching."

Turner spoke last month about getting out of his comfort zone and modernizing his Air Coryell derivative scheme, which dates to his days as the St. Louis Rams' receivers coach in 1987 under Ernie Zampese, a former Don Coryell assistant in San Diego.

Spread formations and empty sets increasingly have been part of Turner's offense in recent years. But as Turner told USA TODAY Sports in April, "If Dan Fouts or Troy Aikman came in here, there would be a pretty large percentage of the things that they would recognize and they'd be very comfortable with. … I probably stay truer to it than anybody."

That's fine by Rudolph, 24, who is learning the expanded route tree and hoping to recapture his 2012 Pro Bowl form (53 catches for 493 yards and nine touchdowns) as he enters a contract year after a broken foot limited him to eight games last season.

He's not as fast as Cameron, a bit player for two years in Cleveland before exploding for 80 catches for 917 yards and seven touchdowns in Turner's lone season with the Browns. But Rudolph's thick, 6-foot-6 frame can create its own matchup problems – something he hopes will happen more often under Turner.

"Some guys have that unique ability to have the feel for a game and dial up huge plays," Rudolph said. "I really noticed watching a lot of Cleveland Browns tape last year, when you're watching the course of the game, you can see that with Norv.

"He has such a great feel for dialing up plays at the right time, and I feel like he will really do a great job of making sure the ball's in the hands of our guys on the outside. We're going to throw it around."